Arix Bioscience plc

 

Portfolio Company Disc Medicine Completes Merger with Gemini Therapeutics

 

LONDON, 30 December 2022: Arix Bioscience plc (“Arix” or the “Company”) (LSE: ARIX), a global venture capital company focused on investing in breakthrough biotechnology companies, notes that its portfolio company, Disc Medicine, Inc. (“Disc”), has today completed its previously announced merger with Gemini Therapeutics, Inc. (“Gemini”), following the approval of Gemini shareholders.

 

The combined company will focus on advancing Disc’s pipeline of haematology programs. It will operate under the name Disc Medicine, Inc. and its shares will commence trading on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol IRON.

 

Concurrent with the closing of the merger, Disc completed a $53.5 million financing in which Arix participated alongside an investor syndicate of healthcare investors, led by Access Biotechnology and included OrbiMed, Atlas Venture, 5AM Ventures, Novo Holdings A/S, Rock Springs Capital, and Janus Henderson Investors. The projected cash and cash equivalents as of the close of the business combination are expected to be approximately $175 million, providing operating runway into 2025.

 

Robert Lyne, CEO of Arix Bioscience, said: “We are thrilled to see the completion of Disc’s merger with Gemini and its concurrent fundraise, which positions Disc well to build on the rapid progress made in its diversified clinical stage pipeline of products. This merger, completing 15 months since our first investment in Disc, is testament to the strength of Arix’s refocused strategy to invest in companies with nearer-term value inflection points, and we look forward to seeing further progress in its product pipeline, importantly focused on diseases of unmet medical need.”

 

[ENDS]

 

Enquiries

For more information on Arix, please contact:

 

Arix Bioscience plc

+44 (0)20 7290 1050

ir@arixbioscience.com

 

Powerscourt Group

Sarah MacLeod, Ibrahim Khalil, Nick Johnson

+44 (0)20 7250 1446

arix@powerscourt-group.com

 

Notes to Editors

 

About Gemini Therapeutics, Inc.

Gemini Therapeutics is a clinical-stage precision medicine company previously focused on developing novel therapeutic compounds to treat genetically defined age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

For more information, visit www.geminitherapeutics.com.

 

About Disc Medicine, Inc.

Disc Medicine is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is dedicated to transforming the lives of patients with hematologic disorders. Disc is building a portfolio of innovative, first-in-class therapeutic candidates that affect fundamental pathways of red blood cell biology. Disc Medicine is committed to developing treatments that empower and bring hope to the many patients who suffer from hematologic disease. For more information, please visit www.discmedicine.com.

 

About the Merger

Prior to the closing of the merger, Gemini effected a 1 for 10 reverse stock split of its common stock. Following the reverse stock split and closing of the merger, there will be approximately 17 million shares of the combined company’s common stock outstanding with prior Disc shareholders owning approximately 74% and prior Gemini shareholders owning 26%. The combined company will be led by John Quisel, J.D., Ph.D., the current CEO and President of Disc, and other members of the Disc management team. The Board of Directors of the combined company will be composed of nine members, including eight Disc board members and one board member from Gemini. SVB Securities served as the exclusive financial advisor to Gemini and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP served as Gemini’s legal counsel. Morgan Stanley served as the lead financial advisor to Disc along with Wedbush PacGrow, and Goodwin Procter LLP served as Disc’s legal counsel.

 

About Disc Medicine’s Haematology Portfolio

Disc has a clinical-stage development pipeline composed of investigational product candidates that affect heme biosynthesis and iron metabolism. Disc’s programs are designed to target pathways with established, clinically-validated biology and have the potential to address multiple indications. This includes:

 

Bitopertin (Heme Synthesis Modulator): Bitopertin is an inhibitor of glycine transporter, GlyT1, and has demonstrated effects on heme biosynthesis in clinical studies. Bitopertin was in-licensed by Disc from Roche in 2021 and has been extensively studied, including a safety data package reflecting clinical experience in over 4,000 individuals. Inhibition of heme biosynthesis has the potential to address a wide range of hematologic disorders. Disc has initiated BEACON, an open-label, phase 2 trial of bitopertin in patients with erythropoietic porphyria, a rare, debilitating and potentially fatal genetic disorder that results in dysregulated heme biosynthesis and where bitopertin has the potential to become the first disease-modifying treatment. Additional clinical studies in Diamond-Blackfan Anemia (DBA) and other indications are being planned.

 

DISC-0974 (Hepcidin Suppression): DISC-0974 is a monoclonal antibody targeting a co-receptor called hemojuvelin (HJV) and is designed to suppress hepcidin production and increase serum iron levels in patients suffering from the anemia of inflammation. DISC-0974 was in-licensed by Disc from AbbVie in 2019. Anemia of inflammation arises from abnormally elevated hepcidin and is the most common form of anemia, affecting millions of patients across numerous diseases such as chronic kidney disease, myelofibrosis, cancer, autoimmune diseases, and other conditions with an inflammatory component. Disc has established clinical proof-of-mechanism of DISC-0974 in a phase 1 study of healthy volunteers and initiated a phase 1b/2 clinical study of DISC-0974 in patients with anemia of myelofibrosis. Disc plans to initiate a phase 1b/2 clinical study of DISC-0974 in patients with anemia of chronic kidney disease (non-dialysis) in late 2022.

 

Matriptase-2 Inhibitor (Hepcidin Induction): Disc has a research program designed to identify orally-available, small molecules to inhibit Matriptase-2 (referred to as Mat-2 or TMPRSS6) and increase the production of hepcidin and restrict iron availability. The therapeutic role of hepcidin has been established in patients with polycythemia vera and hereditary hemochromatosis, and is being studied for the treatment of diseases associated with iron overload, including beta-thalassemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, and sickle cell disease.

 

 

About Arix Bioscience plc

Arix Bioscience plc is a global venture capital company focused on investing in breakthrough biotechnology companies around cutting-edge advances in life sciences.

 

We collaborate with exceptional entrepreneurs and provide the capital, expertise, and global networks to help accelerate their ideas into important new treatments for patients. As a listed company, we are able to bring this exciting growth phase of our industry to a broader range of investors. www.arixbioscience.com